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Who are the
audiences?
What can be done to
make access trivial for all key organizational staff?
How can those without
access continue to be included?
Who will take
responsibility for maintaining information to support coalition work?
Discussion
The Information Revolution is not without controversy. Many of the issues that critics have raised need to be considered when an organization develops a plan for a site.
Ultimately, there will be many audiences. Various material will need to be prepared with specific targets in mind.
Initially, organizations should expect that other organizations and community leaders are the primary audience. Material should be selected that provides useful information to other organizations and professionals, that supports coordination with other organizations and that clarifies the role and impact of an organization in the minds of community leadership and foundations.
A second early audience is likely to be youth. They will be exposed to the systems in schools and use school and library sites before they have home systems. Many youth agencies have been building computer clusters that will also be points of access. The most important step for building a youth audience will be to involve youth in creating material for the community information system. They will be an important talent pool as the work develops.
A more general audience may first be accessing the system on computers at public sites. In these settings, they will access systems less frequently and with more focus than when computer access is more widely available in homes.
Organizations may begin with arranging Internet access for single computer. This will not be sufficient to create an environment in which the organization uses Internet information in its work. Sophisticated organizations may already have inter-connected micro computers in a local area network (LAN). This format is ideal for Internet access when the phone link is installed to be accessible from all computer stations. A higher speed ISDN digital line can even support simultaneous use of one phone connection.
When Internet access is limited within an organization, one staff member may need to be assigned to serve as an intermediary. The intermediary can identify material within the organization that should be put online and pass messages and information on to other staff as the material appears.
With the software available today, using the World Wide Web will be trivial for most staff once issues of access are addressed. The primary purpose for training staff should be to help them with the process of locating valuable information within the often disorganized Internet environment. Even this problem will be reduced as others work to improve structured interfaces to relevant information.
Community information systems need to include a variety of formats to access information - on and off line. Because almost everyone has access to a telephone, some communities are beginning with dial up message systems and voice mail as a more universally accessible system. Fax and "fax-back" systems will also be important for some time.
Separate and competitive computer communications platforms are also likely to be relevant for some period of time. In Milwaukee, for example, a "FreeNet" equivalent - Omnifest offers a text base community bulletin board, several vendors offer full Internet access which is beginning to attract organizational home pages and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper has begun OnLine Wisconsin - a local commercial element within a propriety service - Prodigy. Community organizations may need to provide some information to all of these platforms.
Public access issues are also a matter of cost, preparation and interest. Schools and libraries will be taking the lead supporting public access. A variety of orientation/ training programs need to be in place. Lower cost access alternatives need to remain viable, even though they are limited technology options which can limit the volume of information available and can be more difficult to use. However, low cost "FreeNet" sites and public sites for community access will not be valid paradigms for the long term. The use of information systems will change substantially when information systems are pervasive within homes.
For some time, strategies must include procedures to keep those with little or no online access "in the loop." Organizations may print specific program detail pages from a World Wide Web site on demand for consumers. Fliers and other traditional formats should make clear reference to materials available online and ways to access them. Communication by working groups should mix E-mail, fax and "snail mail" elements depending upon the capacity of each member.
One person in an organization needs to be assigned the role of coordinating information which will go online. This person need not be the one handling the technical details. Technical details may even be handled through consultation. But the content must be monitored regularly to ensure that it is up to date, serving the needs of the organization and presenting the work of the organization in a complete and accurate way.
Most organizations already assign the work of creating annual reports, brochures, grant proposals and program fliers to a key staff person. In many respects, preparing material for online distribution is simpler - because less work needs to be spent editing material down to a compact format to keep production and mailing costs low. Secondary material can simply be included in secondary pages.
There are technical matters to address. Web page design allows less flexibility than in brochure preparation. Typically, choices are constrained for images, color and variations in text. Images must be created, scanned and converted to appropriate formats. The pages must be prepared in the HTML format. This is awkward today, but will be simple enough in the near future that it is unlikely that most organizations will have consultants do more than the initial site development.
Perhaps more importantly, a staff member must be an advocate for the use of the online system. This may mean working with other staff and volunteer leadership to recognize the opportunities to use the new medium.
Advocates will also play a role within coalitions to support Internet use for communication and as a base for materials developed by a coalition. A consistent archive will be an important part of a growing "community memory" as a resource for many organizations.
As information systems rapidly develop, a staff member should also be assigned to routinely scan the Internet to maintain a list of relevant resources, both local and national as they appear. Potential users need to be reminded of the material that is available. Frequently, a meeting or a flier may reference more detailed information that can be found online.